Catholic Bible 101

The recent mandate by the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services regarding health care of Catholics is an abomination.  The new socialist health care plan passed without one Republican vote. And now we see the results of this Marxist plot to attack the Catholic Church - to split the church in two, or divide and conquer.  The administration has basically ignored the US Bishops, in favor of listenting to an apostate nun in charge of a hospital. 

This mandate violates the separation of Church and State. The far left radicals always pull out this separation of church and state (words which aren't in the Constitution) when they want to ban public prayer or manger scenes on public property, but seem to ignore it when the door swings the other way. It is the sincere hope of Catholicbible101 that the Supreme Court of the US will toss Obamacare into the Marxist trashbin where it belongs.  After all, the President once said that "if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it."  Well, not so much now if you're Catholic...

My first podcast on John 17, Caiaphas vs. Jesus, and I AM ! With the William Tell Overture thrown in for good measure!

DOWNLOAD THIS PODCAST to your computer or smartphone by RIGHT clicking on the link, and then click on "save as" (29 megs, 30 minutes, 22 seconds).

Some people think that playing around with ouija boards and tarot cards and horoscopes is all harmless fun. But it isn't. God hates those things, because people who get involved with these things can be pulled into them, and then the person starts to place his trust in them, instead of HIM.

The movie "The Exorcist" was based on a true story of a young boy and his aunt, who taught him to contact the dead spirits through a ouija board. But they aren't dead spirits - they are demons masquerading as dead humans.   A Ouija board is a demonic gateway, as is all occultic practice. The Bible condemns these things over and over again, both in the Old Testament AND the New Testament. So if you are reading your daily horoscope, or consulting fortune tellers to gain hidden knowledge about the future or someone you know, go to confession and get rid of these practices, ASAP.  

Once you do these occultic things, the demons have a right to attach themselves to you and your life, because you told God that you don't really trust in Him by doing these things.  Start saying your rosary EVERY day instead of consulting the "spirits" to gain arcane knowledge.  Mary is the terror of demons, and she will chase them away for you....

An excellent article on the dangers of playing around with the occult can be found HERE .

Revelation 21:8: But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death."

As we read about the Jews worshipping the golden calf as a god, and not trusting in God to water them, feed them, and to overcome the Canaanites in the Promised Land, we should try to apply this to our lives today, instead of just reading it as history. We all travel through a secular wasteland today, filled with false gods of money, illicit sex, drugs, abortion, pleasure, etc. And how many of us know and care more about these things than the Word of God in the Bible?  A LOT!  And how many of us put more trust in our 401K's or condoms or drugs than we do in Jesus Christ?  A LOT!  So try to personalize the story about the Jews and their resultant punishment from God. You will soon see that nothing has changed much in human nature!

1 Corinthians 10:1-14: I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance." We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men."

1. Loving God with all we've got, and

2. Loving our neighbor as ourselves.

So what is the history of the Catholic Church? Some people think that Constantine, the emperor of Rome in 325 AD, made it all up as a way to perpetuate the Roman Empire.  But they would be wrong, and we have the writings from the first Century (besides the Bible) to prove it.

Dr. Michael Barber, a professor of Graduate Studies at John Paul the Great Catholic University, gives a 41 minute overview of the history of the Church that Jesus built on the rock, Peter, in Matthew 16:18.  Just click on the link below and you will know more about the history of the Catholic Church than 99% of the populace in the world!

Dr. Barber's Lecture on the History of Thee Catholic Church

Somebody once asked John Henry Newman why the Catholic Church and its rituals were hated so much. He replied, "Because the same spirit that once hollered out "CRUCIFY HIM" is still very much alive and well today."

The press and the mainstream media, along with Hollywood, academia, atheists, and SOME protestants, hate the Holy Catholic Church. Why? Because they see things through the lens of the here and now, rather than the hereafter.  They think that absolute freedom of the mind and the body is what life is all about, and they want NO limits in their life, while the Church, which has Jesus Christ as its head (Ephesians 5:23), says no to them and the world, and that there are limits in life.  

Just ask yourself about limits in life - Should we all be allowed to eat whatever we want to, whenever we want to, as much as we want to? Should we all be allowed to drive as fast as we want to on the freeway, and drink alcohol while we do?  The obvious answer is no, because there are natural limits in eating and driving. The same is true in life, with sex, with lying, with stealing, with doing our own thing, etc.  The absolute worst thing that can happen to a man or a woman is to live life with too much money, too much sex, too much comfort, and too much food.  

And the Holy Catholic Church is there forever to tell us about these limits, so as to get us into heaven, the true goal of life. And we get there by getting as close to Jesus Christ as possible in all things, which is what confession and Holy Communion are all about. When we receive Holy Communion in a state of grace following a good confession, Christ abides in us, and we in him (John 6:56)

And always remember - Being holy does not get us closer to Christ;  Rather, getting closer to Christ makes us holy!

So many churches these days have stylish good looking great speaking preachers who preach another gospel than the one Jesus Christ preached. They preach the prosperity gospel, and it goes something like this - "God loves you, and wants you to be rich and successful in this life." Now if we stop right there, you will find that Jesus never promised anyone prosperity in this life; rather, he promised eternal life and happiness in the next life to all who pick up their cross and follow him in this life.  

St. Paul talks about preachers who tickle the ears of people, and how we should avoid them in 2 Timothy 4:3.  When the rich young man came up to Jesus and asked Him what he must do to be saved, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions, give the money to the poor, and then come and follow Him.  The preachers of today who preach the health and wealth gospel say something like - "Give your money to me, and God will reward you tenfold in this life."  But that is more of an Old Testament preaching instead of a New Testament preaching. In the Old Testament, riches were seen as a sign that God favored you; but in the New Testament, riches are seen as something that can bog you down in the affairs of this world, where the devil is the god (2 Corinthians 4:4) while keeping you from the eternal reward of heaven in the next world:

James 5:1-5: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.   Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

So if you do come into a lot of money, be very wary of what it can do to you. And don't be taken in by the health and wealth hucksters on TV that will con you into a donation.  They are NOT preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but a tradition of man cleverly disguised as the gospel.

Today begins the 33 day Consecration to Jesus through Mary in anticipation of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August. This Consecration was begun by one of the Catholic Church's greatest saints, Saint Louis de Montfort, from France.  From Fisheaters.com, here is a short bio of him:

Always a pious child and especially devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, when the brilliant St. Louis de Montfort (A.D. 31 January 1673 - 28 April 1716) reached the age of 19, he gave away all he had and resolved to live on alms. He was ordained a priest in Paris, worked for some time as a hospital chaplain, but then came to devote his time to preaching -- a task he was extremely gifted at. He went on to found the Daughters of Wisdom -- an Order devoted to hospital work and educating poor girls -- and the Company of Mary (the Montfort Fathers), a missionary group of priests. It was his devotion to Mary, though, for which he is most remembered.

The Consecration to Jesus through Mary consists of 33 days of meditation, prayer and scripture on 4 different topics - The world, ourselves, Mary, and then Jesus. On the 34th day, after confession and Holy Communion, we say the prayer of Consecration to Jesus through Mary.   Why go through Mary? Well, because Jesus chose to come into this world through Mary for mankind. Similarly, mankind should choose to go through Mary to Jesus.  Mary is very much alive and intercedes for us daily to her Son, because she is the Queen Mother of Heaven (the mother of the King of Heaven), and according to the Bible, in 1 Kings 2:18, the role of the Queen Mother is to intercede on behalf of her people. Mary did this at the wedding feast at Cana, when she interceded for the hosts who had run out of wine. And even though Jesus said it wasn't His time yet, he performed a miracle at His mother's request. Mary's last recorded words in the Bible are "Do whatever He tells you."

And just as Mary molded Jesus in her womb with her humility, meekness, love, and goodness, just so, Mary can mold us into better Christians by giving us these same virtues in abundance.

So please take the 33 day consecration to Jesus through Mary - It will change your life, and Mary's spouse, the Holy Spirit, will come into your life like never before!